Family Planning
by Wordsplat
Summary: You're Not Stubborn (Just Impossible) Verse - Part 3. Seventeen years later, Steve and Tony have become professional baby snatchers.


"Should I be concerned?"

"Hm?" Tony glanced away from Steve, returning his attention to Jan. "About?"

"About you two running off with the Richards' baby." Jan giggled, eyeing Steve meaningfully.

Steve wasn't particularly fond of these events—galas and fundraisers and such—but as CEO of RogersTechnologies, Tony's presence was required. Steve's wasn't, but Tony wanted him there so Steve made his appearances dutifully and without complaint, with all the solemnity of a man going off to war. He was far from solemn now, however, bouncing little Valerie in his arms cheerfully, showing the girl off to everyone who would pay him so much as a moment's notice. Handsome man with a baby in his arms? Everyone was paying him a moment's notice. Tony smiled fondly as Steve cooed at the girl, letting her grasp his finger.

"I suggested it, but you know Steve." Tony chuckled. "He unfortunately considers kidnapping to be a bit of a moral grey area."

"He's very taken with her." Jan's hinting tone wasn't lost on Tony.

"He adores children," Tony agreed.

"He seems good with them, too."

"Always has been." Tony nodded.

"You seem to like them plenty yourself." Jan was rapidly moving from 'hinting' to 'waving a sign in his face', and Tony tamped down an amused grin. She'd been angling for straight answer from them for months now, her and just about every other one of their friends.

"They're alright," he commented mildly.

"Steve would make a good father," Jan said pointedly. Tony tried his hardest not to laugh.

"Wouldn't he?" Tony glanced back over his shoulder, caught Steve's eyes. Steve smiled, held the baby's hand up in a little wave. Tony waggled his fingers in return. Valerie giggled.

"Honestly, you're hopeless. And you're not getting any younger, y'know."

"Twenty-five is plenty young—"

"Stop saying you're twenty-five, everyone knows you're thirty-four—"

"I seem to recall my last birthday cake having a big old twenty-five on it, I don't know what you're talking about—"

"That's because Steve is hopeless and gives in to your every ridiculous whim." Jan rolled her eyes. "Yet another reasonhe would make a fantastic father: he already deals with childish behavior on a daily basis."

"Now, that's just hurtful."

"_Tony," _Jan whined, "Please. Can't I get a straight answer, just this once? I've known you since high school, for Pete's sake. If Carol finds out before I do, or God forbid Jess, they'll hold it over my head for ages."

"Who says there's anything to find out?" Tony shrugged nonchalantly.

"Do you know who had a baby last month?" Jan demanded, "_Pepper. _Pepper, Miss I'm-going-to-run-the-world, who-has-time-for-children, Pepper!"

"I seem to vaguely recall someone by that name." Tony sipped his champagne, endlessly amused. "Oh, that's right, I was sitting right outside the delivery room of someone with that name just last month."

"Be serious." Jan shot him a look.

"I am." Tony chuckled. "The little guy was a bit squishy-faced if you ask me, but as Pepper quite snottily informed me, they all look like that."

"One way to find out."

"You're worse than my mom." Tony shook his head. "Though if you think you're being blunt, whoo. This year, my birthday present was wrapped in Babies R Us coupons."

"Men," Jan declared moodily.

"And that's what she said on the phone," Tony replied cheerfully.

"Talking about Mom?" Steve asked as he approached, pressing a kiss to Tony's cheek.

"And babies," Jan added.

"Not sure those are separate subjects, these days." Steve chuckled, then turned the baby towards Tony, held up his hand. "Honey, watch this—Val, can you give me five?"

Valerie giggled, slapping her tiny hand against Steve's.

"Good job, cutie." Tony tickled her, and she let out a shriek of laughter. "Did my cutie teach you that?"

"Nah, she already knew it. We're working on 'Steve' though." Steve bounced her a bit. "Can you say 'Steve'?"

Valerie just blinked up at him curiously.

"How about 'Tony'?" Tony tried, wiggling a finger at her. She grasped it eagerly, but didn't attempt any words.

"_Rogers!"_ There was a loud, accusatory bellow from across the room, and both men flinched. They exchanged a glance, but before they could even consider their options, Sue waved a threatening finger at them. "Don't either one of you so much as _think_ about bolting!"

Having finally found them, she stormed over in a huff. They turned to face her guiltily, Steve already extending Valerie to her mother.

"I'm sorry, Sue, I didn't mean t—" Steve began, blush rising high on his cheeks.

"For God's sake." She swiped Valerie back, shooting them both an exasperated look. "_Every_ _time, _the both of you! You're shameless. Have you considered careers as professional baby-snatchers?"

"To be fair, we've never actually left the premises with one," Tony pointed out.

"Well." Steve made a face, and Tony winced.

"Okay, once, but I maintain that Jessica gave us permission, there was totally a little nod thing—"

"And it was just to the park—" Steve added quickly.

"Dani had a great time—" Tony contributed.

"She adores Tony—" Steve agreed.

"And we took great care of her," Tony pointed out, glancing at Steve, then back at Sue, "It wasn't really _that _big of a—"

"Luke had a conniption." Sue sighed. "And apparently I'm next. Just get your own already, honestly."

"That's what _I've _been saying!" Jan threw her hands up, exasperated.

"Oh_, _that's what you've all been trying to ask? Didn't Tony tell you?" Steve wore his most innocently confused expression, though he knew full well Tony had done no such thing. "We're meeting with an adoption agency this weekend."

Sue abandoned all pretenses of indignation and swept them both up in a surprisingly strong one-armed hug, while Jan shrieked bloody murder. Valerie blew a spit bubble, which Tony was going to take as congratulations. He caught Steve's eyes over Sue's head; Steve was beaming. Tony didn't even try to resist returning it.

"Tony!" When Sue released him, Jan socked him in the arm. "Don't mess with me like that!"

"You've been leading her on all night, haven't you?" Steve shot him an amused look, drifting closer to slide into place beside Tony, bump their shoulders.

"Of course." Tony grinned back.

"Oh, I'm just so happy for you two!" Jan bounced excitedly. "Can I be the godmother?"

"You'll have to fight Pepper for that." Steve chuckled.

"Don't bother, you'd lose." Tony grinned. "She's still all hopped up on pregnancy hormones. She'd probably pull a knife on you."

"You told her first?" Jan pouted.

"You're kidding, right?" Tony snorted.

"We told our mothers first," Steve clarified with a smile.

"What's with all the shouting?" Hank frowned at them as he approached, followed closely by Reed. "Is everything alright?"

"They're finally getting a baby!" Jan took Hank's hand. "Can you believe it?"

"Congratulations!" Hank broke into an easy grin. "It's about time."

"We thought for sure you'd be first out of the gate after college." Reed agreed with a snort.

"Time and place for everything," was all Steve said, his arm inevitably finding its way around Tony's waist.

There had been a multitude of reasons to wait. A hard one to ignore was that the laws against omega adoption had only just been overturned three years prior, but the most personally important was the meteoric rise of RogersTechnologies. Until just recently, Tony's hectic and lengthy work schedule wouldn't have been conducive to raising a child. His most recent promotion, however, put them in a comfortable spot; they were doing well financially, his work hours were both reduced and better planned, and Steve could do most of his illustration work from home.

They were ready, too. They'd been ready for a while now—their endless attempts at baby theft probably made that much fairly obvious—despite Tony's initial hesitance. It wasn't that he thought he'd become his father—he knew he could never hurt _any _child, much less his own, the way Howard had him—but he'd still worried. He'd been concerned that he would mess up in other ways, that he'd delve into his work too much and pay them too little attention, or that he'd get too competitive and push them too hard, make them resent him. Even before he showed as an omega, his childhood had never been particularly wonderful. He didn't have much example to follow. How would he know what to do? Tony thought he was prepared, but what if he wasn't?

Of course, Steve had assured him time and time again that his worries were pointless, and Tony had come to believe him. So what if he made a mistake here and there? Maybe Tony wouldn't be the perfect father, but he'd have Steve; that made up for a hell of a lot. With Steve to guide him, Tony was sure he'd do just fine.


End file.
